


Cluedo

by paperscribe



Category: Lewis (TV)
Genre: Cluedo, Role-Playing Game
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-20
Updated: 2014-01-20
Packaged: 2018-01-09 08:42:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1143901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paperscribe/pseuds/paperscribe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hathaway and Lewis participate in an interactive Cluedo game at a community benefit.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cluedo

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Lindenharp](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lindenharp/gifts).



Hathaway handed Lewis an envelope. "You're going to love this."

Lewis opened the envelope, withdrawing the paper inside and beginning to read. "Reverend Green is…"

"Not aloud!" Hathaway interrupted.

Lewis looked at the paper a moment, then turned his attention to Hathaway. "Reverend Green? That's Cluedo, isn't it?"

Hathaway nodded. "We're doing a community benefit and this is one of Innocent's planned activities. We've been asked to participate in an audience-participation Cluedo game."

Lewis looked at the envelope again. "This is my envelope? I'm meant to play a Reverend?"

"Those were my instructions, sir," Hathaway said.

Lewis groaned, rubbing his forehead with one hand. "Are you doing this?"

Hathaway held up an envelope of his own. "Professor Plum. Our characters are described in detail in the letters, and we'll be playing the characters and answering audience questions. Eventually, the idea is that the audience will solve the case, in effect allowing them to be the detectives for a change."

"Like that Cluedo show on telly?" Lewis asked. "The kids used to love that."

Hathaway nodded. "Just like that. Innocent's going to be the host. But she's managed to talk Dr Hobson and PC Lockhart and DC Hooper into playing the characters, along with us."

"Hooper?" Lewis asked, surprised.

Hathaway smirked. "She said there may have been a bit of arm twisting. He's Colonel Mustard."

Lewis shook his head. "Can't imagine any world in which Hooper would enjoy that."

Hathaway attempted to repress a smile and was unsuccessful. "No, sir."

Lewis looked at his letter and sighed. "Don't suppose you've got any books on the life of a clergyman? Or religious history?"

"Of course," Hathaway said. "Why?"

"Got to do my research, haven't I? I don't know a bloody thing about being a man of the cloth," Lewis said.

Hathaway smiled. "I'll bring you a few things to read tomorrow."

"Thanks."

Lewis wasn't exactly looking forward to this…but knowing there were people who'd be looking forward to it even less made him sure he wanted to do a job no one could find fault with.

***

Hathaway had fun choosing his outfit for Cluedo night. He considered wearing something garish and purple, to go along with the colour theme of Professor Plum, but then decided to play the part of a tweedy academic instead. Thus he was wearing an out of date tweed jacket with elbow patches, and a purple tie and patterned shirt that matched absolutely nothing else he had on (although the lack of coordination pained him, he thought it might entertain other people who knew how generally put-together he was). And he wore an old pair of specs he'd had a few years and wore round the house sometimes.

When he met Lewis before the event, Lewis was wearing one of his usual suits, with a green tie and matching pocket square.

"No clerical collar?" Hathaway asked.

Lewis made a face and shook his head. "I don't like the idea of wearing something people work for and care about, not as a costume. Besides, I thought it might offend certain people with more interest in religion than me."

Hathaway was flattered that Lewis had thought of him in his approach to his costume. "Thank you."

"I do like the specs," Lewis said. "Though the shirt…are you having a go at me?"

Hathaway shook his head. "No. I had a professor of ancient Greek who used to wear approximately three conflicting patterns and colours every day I ever saw him. It's an homage, I suppose." He paused. "Although I must say, some of your shirts…"

"You can stop there," Lewis told him with a grin.

Innocent made her way to them. "Good. If you could take your places on the stage, please…we're nearly ready to begin."

Lewis gave Hathaway a friendly wave. "Good luck, Professor. Hope you didn't do it."

Hathaway smiled. "Good luck, Reverend. I hope you didn't do it either."

They took their places in the folding chairs onstage; Lewis was seated at the end of the row, and Hathaway was seated between him and Dr Hobson, who was playing Mrs White. Hooper was at the other end of the stage, arms folded, looking cross.

"If he doesn't look out, everyone will guess him just by the way he's grumbling," Hobson whispered to Hathaway and Lewis.

"Unless they know him," Lewis said, which made Hobson laugh and Hathaway smile.

Innocent took the stage and related the rules of the game. Mr Black had been murdered, and there were six suspects, each with his or her own secrets and reasons why he or she might have murdered Mr Black. Members of the audience would be allowed to ask questions of the suspects; after three questions had been asked, the person who had asked the third question would have to guess who committed the murder, in what room, and with what object. Innocent would then tell them if any parts of the guess that were correct, (for example, "one part of your guess is true"), unless all three were guessed correctly. All the audience members had game sheets to keep track of the evidence. The suspects being questioned had to tell the truth about everything, except the killer, who was permitted to lie. And with that, the game had begun.

"Erm, my question is for Professor Plum," said a weedy-looking man who was first in line to ask a question.

Hathaway straightened, pushing his glasses up on his nose and adopting a somewhat supercilious tone as he poshed up his vowels. "Yes?"

"What are you a professor of, and is it murder?" the man asked.

Hathaway sighed. "Honestly, if you're going to ask questions, I expect them to be at least halfway intelligent. There is no such thing as a professor of murder. However, I assume that even you know that, and thus your question was actually an attempt, transparent as it was, to get me to confess. Which, by the way, I will not do, because I did not kill Mr Black. In answer to your question, I am a professor of theology."

The man looked a bit taken aback and stammered an awkward thank-you before retreating. There were a few questions put to Miss Scarlett (PC Lockhart) and Mrs White (Dr Hobson); Miss Scarlett revealed that she had been blackmailing Mr Black, but that, just before his death, he had refused to continue paying. The first guess was, unsurprisingly, that she had done it with a spanner in the library, but as all those elements of the crime were wrong, Miss Scarlett was exonerated. 

The fifth questioner was the first to ask Lewis a question. "Reverend Green, as you and Professor Plum are both interested in theology, do you consider each other friends?"

When Lewis spoke, he didn't sound like himself at all. He'd altered his voice to be softer, almost meek (which was not a word Hathaway would have associated with Lewis on a normal day). "Oh, yes, certainly! We're very good friends." He gave Hathaway a warm smile, which Hathaway returned. "We play chess and chat about the finer points of various schisms within Christianity."

"What schisms?" the questioner asked.

Hathaway gave Lewis a concerned glance, ready to jump in and help, but Lewis didn't need any help. "Well, the most obvious one to discuss would be the Anglican Schism, wouldn't it, but I find the Nestorian Schism rather fascinating myself, which of course had to do with Nestorius's view that Jesus's divine and human natures were separate. Cyril of Alexandria, however, did not think so." Lewis smiled pleasantly as though there were nothing out of the ordinary at all about what he'd just said.

On the other hand, Hathaway was thoroughly delighted. Lewis had just elaborated on a Christian schism from the year 431, and had given a fairly accurate assessment of what the schism had been about. Hathaway couldn't decide whether he wanted to laugh, gasp, or snog Lewis senseless. It was wonderful.

The questioning focussed on Mrs Peacock and Colonel Mustard for a while, and there were a series of incorrect guesses that didn't eliminate any suspects. Hathaway wished he'd brought a piece of paper and a pen with him so he and Lewis could have played noughts and crosses.

He didn't have long to wait, though, as Mrs White revealed her deep secret at the next question…that in spite of her marriage, she'd been carrying on a secret affair with Professor Plum. As they were meant to be in character at all times, Hathaway avoided looking at Lewis after Mrs White's revelation.

"You never told me," Lewis whispered, still in character, looking suitably shocked.

"How could I? I knew what you would say," Hathaway snapped.

Lewis nodded reluctantly. "Yes, I suppose so."

The next question was for Hathaway. "Professor, does your affair with Mrs White have anything to do with Mr Black?"

Hathaway cleared his throat. He wasn't the murderer--he knew that from the note he'd received containing his character details--so he had to tell the truth in answer to any question put to him. "Mr Black found out about it. He was blackmailing me, and threatened to tell Mrs White's husband if I didn't pay."

"He did the same to me," Dr Hobson/Mrs White said, and Hathaway reached over to touch her hand briefly before turning back to the questioner.

"I hope you're happy," Hathaway snapped. "It's a painful topic for both of us." It was fun to be able to be irritable with everyone, particularly when Hathaway didn't feel comfortable behaving that way in his everyday life.

The next accusation made was that he had done it, but as the person guessed a room and a weapon that had already been eliminated, he was exonerated from suspicion. The game carried on a while longer, and although rooms and weapons seemed to be eliminated, the audience seemed to have trouble working out who had committed the murder. Hathaway suspected they must be scraping the bottom of the barrel when they accused Reverend Green of committing the crime with the lead piping in the study. Hathaway turned to Innocent, ready for her to deny it.

But she didn't. "You are correct!"

Hathaway turned to Lewis. Hathaway's character would have been shocked, of course, but Hathaway was surprised as well.

"Do you have anything you'd like to say about the crime, Reverend Green?" Innocent asked.

Hathaway interrupted brusquely. "Yes, why? Why would you do something like this?"

Lewis looked mortified, and he reached out and touched Hathaway's arm for a moment. "I did it for you."

Hathaway hadn't been expecting that. "You…what?"

"I knew he was blackmailing you," Lewis said quietly. "I overheard him saying he was getting money from both of you, but it wasn't enough. He was going to tell Mr White anyway. And I couldn't let him do that to you." He met Hathaway's eyes. "You're my friend."

Hathaway knew he was meant to be in character, but all he could think about at the moment was, how the hell did Lewis get to be such a good actor and why hadn't Hathaway known about it? This was…he knew Lewis was lying, knew that he was playing out a made-up story, and yet Hathaway believed that desperate, mournful look in Lewis's eyes.

Innocent was giving her closing speech now, thanking the audience and hoping that they would participate in some of the other activities of the evening, but Hathaway was barely paying attention to that because he couldn't get the mental image of Lewis's haunted eyes out of his mind.

Once they were offstage and out of sight, Hathaway hovered near Lewis, but before he could ask any questions, Hooper emerged from nowhere and slapped Lewis on the back. "Hell of a performance, sir."

"Thanks," Lewis said.

Hooper nodded and vanished into the crowd.

Lewis turned to Hathaway. "Hope you didn't guess too long before the audience did."

"No, I didn't guess at all," Hathaway said truthfully. He hesitated; he wanted to ask if Lewis was all right, but he knew the answer he'd receive. "You were very good. The…the Nestorian Schism…where did that come from?"

Lewis gave Hathaway an amused look. "One of your books. I read that bit over and over again so I'd have some bit of religious knowledge I could use to make meself seem like an expert." He nudged Hathaway with his arm. "And even if no one else noticed, I knew you'd like it."

"Sir, I'd listen to you talk about schisms any day of the week," Hathaway said loyally.

Lewis paused. "If you were being blackmailed, you'd come to me, wouldn't you? You wouldn't try to deal with it on your own?"

Hathaway chose his words carefully. "I think, sir, if I were being blackmailed, the subject of the blackmail would likely be something I wouldn't want you to know about."

Lewis nodded, resigned. "That's what I thought." He was silent a moment. "The worst thing about being manipulated or blackmailed isn't if your secret comes out. It's what people can make you do. Knowing you're at someone else's mercy…that's worse than any secret."

Hathaway glanced at Lewis, wondering what sort of experience he had with this sort of thing…whether it was as personal as it sounded.

"Promise me if you're ever threatened that way, you'll come to me," Lewis said. "I don't care if you tell me what you're being blackmailed for or not. But at least tell me you're in trouble."

Hathaway nodded. "And you."

"Hmm?"

"If you're threatened," Hathaway said. "You should tell me."

"Fair enough," Lewis said with a nod. "Come on, Professor. Let's leave before anyone makes us play another round."

Hathaway adopted his 'Professor Plum' voice. "Fancy a game of chess, Reverend?"

Lewis followed suit with his 'Reverend Green' voice. "I'm not as good as you, but I'll do my best."

They exchanged a smile and left the benefit.


End file.
